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SUNY Upstate transforms vacant downtown building into expanded child care center

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — SUNY Upstate Medical University officially opened and dedicated the long-vacant former Four Winds building during ceremonies Oct. 21 as home to its newly expanded child care center and future location of various university offices.

The building is named in honor of Sarah Loguen, M.D., who became one of the nation's first African-American women physicians when she earned her medical degree in 1876 from what is today the SUNY Upstate College of Medicine.

The Four Winds building has been shuttered and vacant since 2004. SUNY Upstate purchased the building in 2007 and announced plans to use the facility to expand its child care center and extend some campus operations into downtown Syracuse. The acquisition of the building was part of the SUNY Upstate Initiative announced by SUNY Upstate President David R. Smith, M.D., last September.

Now located in the Dr. Sarah Loguen Center, the Upstate Child Care Center can accommodate 134 children, more than double the amount in its old facility, located at 618 Irving Ave., Syracuse. The child care center features 10 classrooms, three indoor gross motor rooms, a large outdoor courtyard designed as a natural playscape, a large pantry for meal preparations and a multi-purpose room for dramatic play or other learning projects.

The Upstate Child Care Center is accredited by The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). It opened in 1970 and is recognized as one of the oldest employer-sponsored child care centers in the United States. While it serves mainly SUNY Upstate families, the center operates separately of the university with its own board of directors.

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